Florin, a small rural community situated nine miles southeast of Sacramento, CA on the dividing line between Brighton and San Joaquin townships, was officially established in 1875 as well as the railroad and post office in the community. The town
was founded by Sugden and Johnson on this date.

In 1852, James Rutter, a world renowned horticulturist, and E.B. Crocker of banking
fame, collaborated and purchased 240 acres located on the corner of Florin and Power
Inn roads. In 1854, James Rutter moved to his ranch and planted fruit trees and experimented with various types of grapes and fruit seedlings in order to perfect a
hardy plant that would yield an abundant crop. He also established a winery in 1855
on his ranch.

Mrs. Jennie (Simons) Thomas, of the early pioneer family of Florin left us a memo, stating that “When the Central Pacific Railroad was built through the town around 1868, it helped to attract more people to the community. One spring day in 1864, Judge E.B. Crocker saw the fields covered with colorful wild flowers in great profusion and remarked that this place should be named after the Latin word for flower, “Flora”, a place in flowers, FLORIN. This is one version of how Florin got its name. The name Florin was officially adopted in 1875.

The First school house was built in 1877, on McComber Lane, where Hiram Johnson attended as a boy. He later became the governor of the state of California in 1916.

James Rutter planted the first Tokay grapes in California on his ranch. In 1897 James Frasinetti established the Frasinetti Winery and it is the oldest family-operated winery still in continuous use in Northern California.

Little did James Rutter dream that Florin would someday become such an important grape-producing center, when he first started raising grapes in Florin. In 1941, the grape industry shipped 130 carloads of Flame Tokays to eastern markets. There were a great number of shipping companies helping the nearly 200 grape growers of this area get their produce to market. They were: The Gerrard Co., Nash De Camp Co., Frank H. Buck Co., Pacific Fruit Co., W.O. Davis Co., and the Florin Fruit Growers Association (which was the oldest farmer’s cooperative west of the Mississippi).

The Chinese were the earliest known Orientals in Florin. A community as located on Simon St., established in 1860. They worked on the railroad.

Taken from the “Once-In-A-Lifetime-Reunion” Commemorative Booklet, July 20 & 21, 1985 Written by Constantine A. Kanelos and Mary (Dakuzaku) Tsukamoto